The history of the Baby on Board sign

They are the instantly recognisable sign that you have grown up seeing, and no doubt maybe even roll your eyes at these days.

They may not be as commonplace in 2022, but the OG ‘Baby on Board’ sign has spurred on a series of new takes like this Moira Rose from TV series Schitt's Creek ‘Bebe On Board’ inspired sign (carsales even had its own version in the 2010s) and there is an interesting back story on how these signs rose to popularity.

Recently I read the signs were meant to alert emergency services should there be an accident, so they would know that there would be a little one in the vehicle who may need assistance. NSW Police however have previously confirmed that this is not the case and that they are more to make other drivers aware, which isn’t too far from the origins of the signs.

First produced in 1984, the idea originated from Michael Lerner, a former real estate investor from Massachusetts, USA who had the desire and vision to keep children safe during car trips.

Michael had this stroke of genius after driving his 18-month-old nephew home for the first time and was met with busy traffic and other drivers tailgating or cutting him off unexpectedly. “For the first time, I felt like a parent feels when they have a kid in the car,” he has been quoted as saying.

Around this time, Michael was introduced to Patricia and Helen Bradley, two sisters who had seen similar safety signs in car windows while in Europe but had been unlucky in their attempts to market the idea in the US.

Seeing a business opportunity, Michael and the Bradley sisters agreed on a licensing deal for the rights to the signs. Shortly after, he founded the company Safety 1st and started pitching the idea to the big US department stores.

The first production run of the “Baby on Board” signs were so popular that they sold 10,000 signs within the first month. Demand grew quickly and was so high that within nine months the company was selling 500,000 Baby on Board signs a month!

According to Safety 1st, the company wanted to “encourage drivers to use caution when approaching cars with younger passengers”.

Millions of first-time (or multiple time) parents have since purchased the sign across the world since it was first produced in the '80s, and the original signs are still in production today, despite there being no shortage of copies and imitations.

And it seems safety sells, with the company reaching US$158 million in sales by 1999 and even earned Michael US$38 million when it was bought by Canadian company Dorel Industries in 2000!

But is it making our car trips safer? According to some reports, the sign is nothing more than a novelty these days and could be more likely to distract drivers, rather than keeping everybody safe.

Some argue the signs may increase the likelihood of accidents and are slowing down the emergency intervention should one happen.

Drivers have also admitted to displaying the signs when there are no babies or children on board, meaning emergency services may waste time looking for little ones when they are not there, instead of going to the aid of the adults.

One of the most famous examples of Baby on Board comes from the iconic TV series The Simpsons in an episode when Homer starts a barbershop quartet and rises to fame with a song called Baby on Board. Homer had the idea for the song after Marge had shown him a Baby On Board sign she was going to put in their car, "Now people will stop intentionally ramming our car".

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